Dunchurch
Encyclopedia
Dunchurch is a civil parish and village
on the south-western outskirts of Rugby
in Warwickshire
, England
. The 2001 census
recorded a population of 2,842 in the village.
in the 11th century which mentioned a settlement called Doncerce.
The core of the village has been declared a conservation area
because it has many buildings of historical interest. Some of the buildings date from as far back as the 15th century are timber framed
and still have traditional thatch
roofs.
For centuries Dunchurch was an important staging post on the coaching roads between London
and Holyhead
(now the A45 road
) (classified as B4429 through the village) and Oxford
and Leicester
(now the A426 road
). At one point 40 stagecoach
es plus the regular mail coach
every day would stop at Dunchurch. Coaching inn
s developed in Dunchurch to accommodate these visitors (the "Dun Cow", the "Bell" and "the Star"). Other inns were the "Mother Red Cap", "Crown" and "Red Lion". The "Bell" and "Red Lion" premises were destroyed by a German
parachute mine
in 1940. All other properties can still be seen today.
Many famous people throughout history stayed at Dunchurch. Most notably in 1605, the Gunpowder Plot
ters stayed at the Red Lion Inn (reputed to be the private residence now called 'Guy Fawkes House') in Dunchurch awaiting news of Guy Fawkes
's attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. If he had been successful they planned to kidnap the King's daughter Elizabeth of Bohemia
from nearby Coombe Abbey
.
Other famous people having stayed in the village include a young Queen Victoria
(before she became Queen) and the Duke of Wellington
. Robert Stephenson
stayed in Dunchurch whilst supervising the construction of the Kilsby Tunnel
during the building of the London and Birmingham Railway
.
Dunchurch is the birthplace of the 18th century hymnwriter William Tans'ur
, and in more recent times of the athlete Katharine Merry
. For many years it was the home of England cricketer Ian Bell.
The coming of the railways in the 1840s led to a dramatic decline in the coaching trade, and with the development of a major junction at nearby Rugby
the importance of Dunchurch rapidly declined. From 1871 until 1964 the village was served by its own railway station
on the Rugby to Leamington Spa line.
) in the centre, a Methodist chapel in Cawston Lane and a Baptist
church on the outskirts of the village on the Coventry road.
in the 1920s. Currently Dunchurch & Bilton Cricket Club play in the summer months and Dunchurch Football Club play in the winter. Cricket
has been played on the land since the 1800s. In 1999 Dunchurch Cricket Club merged with Bilton Cricket Club to form Dunchurch & Bilton Cricket Club.
Other groups in the village include :- Dunchurch Silver Band, District of Dunchurch Brass, Dunchurch Festival Group, Guides, Dunchurch Health Walks, Scouts, Mothers' Union, Photographic Club, St. Peter's Bell Ringers, Dunchurch Twinning Association, Dunchurch and Thurlaston Women's Institute, Working Men's Club.
. At Christmas it has been an annual tradition for more than thirty years in Dunchurch to dress up the statue in the garb of a cartoon or TV character.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
on the south-western outskirts of Rugby
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The 2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
recorded a population of 2,842 in the village.
History
The earliest historical reference to Dunchurch was in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
in the 11th century which mentioned a settlement called Doncerce.
The core of the village has been declared a conservation area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
because it has many buildings of historical interest. Some of the buildings date from as far back as the 15th century are timber framed
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
and still have traditional thatch
Thatching
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...
roofs.
For centuries Dunchurch was an important staging post on the coaching roads between London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Holyhead
Holyhead
Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....
(now the A45 road
A45 road
The A45 is a major road in England. It runs east from Birmingham past the National Exhibition Centre and the M42, then bypasses Coventry and Rugby, where it briefly merges with the M45 until it continues to Daventry...
) (classified as B4429 through the village) and Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
(now the A426 road
A426 road
The A426 road is a road in England which runs from the city of Leicester to the market town of Southam in Warwickshire via the towns of Lutterworth and Rugby.-History:...
). At one point 40 stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
es plus the regular mail coach
Mail coach
In Great Britain, the mail coach or post coach was a horse-drawn carriage that carried mail deliveries, from 1784. In Ireland, the first mail coach began service from Dublin in 1789. The coach was drawn by four horses and had seating for four passengers inside. Further passengers were later allowed...
every day would stop at Dunchurch. Coaching inn
Coaching inn
In Europe, from approximately the mid-17th century for a period of about 200 years, the coaching inn, sometimes called a coaching house or staging inn, was a vital part of the inland transport infrastructure, as an inn serving coach travelers...
s developed in Dunchurch to accommodate these visitors (the "Dun Cow", the "Bell" and "the Star"). Other inns were the "Mother Red Cap", "Crown" and "Red Lion". The "Bell" and "Red Lion" premises were destroyed by a German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
parachute mine
Parachute mine
A parachute mine is a parachute naval mine dropped from an aircraft. They were mostly used in World War II by the Luftwaffe and initially by the Royal Air Force Bomber Command.-Blast effects:...
in 1940. All other properties can still be seen today.
Many famous people throughout history stayed at Dunchurch. Most notably in 1605, the Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...
ters stayed at the Red Lion Inn (reputed to be the private residence now called 'Guy Fawkes House') in Dunchurch awaiting news of Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes , also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Fawkes was born and educated in York...
's attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. If he had been successful they planned to kidnap the King's daughter Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth of Bohemia was the eldest daughter of King James VI and I, King of Scotland, England, Ireland, and Anne of Denmark. As the wife of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, she was Electress Palatine and briefly Queen of Bohemia...
from nearby Coombe Abbey
Coombe Abbey
Coombe Abbey is a hotel which has been developed from an historic grade I listed building and former country house. It is located roughly midway between Coventry and Brinklow in the countryside of Warwickshire, England...
.
Other famous people having stayed in the village include a young Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
(before she became Queen) and the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
. Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...
stayed in Dunchurch whilst supervising the construction of the Kilsby Tunnel
Kilsby Tunnel
The Kilsby Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the West Coast Main Line railway in England. It was designed and engineered by Robert Stephenson.The tunnel is located near the village of Kilsby in Northamptonshire roughly 5 miles south-east of Rugby and is long.The tunnel was opened in 1838 as a part of...
during the building of the London and Birmingham Railway
London and Birmingham Railway
The London and Birmingham Railway was an early railway company in the United Kingdom from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway ....
.
Dunchurch is the birthplace of the 18th century hymnwriter William Tans'ur
William Tans'ur
William Tans'ur was an English hymn-writer, psalmodist and teacher of music. His output includes approximately a hundred hymn tunes and psalm settings and a Te Deum...
, and in more recent times of the athlete Katharine Merry
Katharine Merry
Katharine Merry is a former English female sprinter.-Career:A member of the Birchfield Harriers athletics club, Merry won a bronze medal in the 400 metre sprint at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.Merry had a career that spanned 20 years. Aged 12 she topped the UK Under 13 Rankings in...
. For many years it was the home of England cricketer Ian Bell.
The coming of the railways in the 1840s led to a dramatic decline in the coaching trade, and with the development of a major junction at nearby Rugby
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
the importance of Dunchurch rapidly declined. From 1871 until 1964 the village was served by its own railway station
Dunchurch railway station
Dunchurch railway station was a railway station serving Dunchurch in the English county of Warwickshire on the Rugby to Leamington line.Among the many schemes to build a line between Rugby and Leamington was one by the Rugby, Leamington and Warwick Railway Company. This later became known as the...
on the Rugby to Leamington Spa line.
Education
There are three schools in the area: Dunchurch Infant and Nursery School (School Street), Dunchurch Boughton C of E Junior School (Dew Close) and Bilton Grange Preparatory School (Rugby Road).Religion
There are three churches in the village: St Peter's (Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
) in the centre, a Methodist chapel in Cawston Lane and a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
church on the outskirts of the village on the Coventry road.
Culture
The village has a sportsfield on Rugby Road donated to the village by Baron WaringBaron Waring
Baron Waring, of Foots Cray in the County of Kent, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 18 June 1922 for the businessman Sir Samuel Waring, 1st Baronet. He had already been created a Baronet, of Foots Cray Place in the County of Kent, in the Baronetage of the United...
in the 1920s. Currently Dunchurch & Bilton Cricket Club play in the summer months and Dunchurch Football Club play in the winter. Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
has been played on the land since the 1800s. In 1999 Dunchurch Cricket Club merged with Bilton Cricket Club to form Dunchurch & Bilton Cricket Club.
Other groups in the village include :- Dunchurch Silver Band, District of Dunchurch Brass, Dunchurch Festival Group, Guides, Dunchurch Health Walks, Scouts, Mothers' Union, Photographic Club, St. Peter's Bell Ringers, Dunchurch Twinning Association, Dunchurch and Thurlaston Women's Institute, Working Men's Club.
Statue
In the centre of Dunchurch is a statue of Lord John Douglas Montague Scott (1809–1860) a 19th century landlord, Scottish M.P. and younger brother of the Duke of BuccleuchWalter Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch
Walter Francis Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch, 7th Duke of Queensberry KG, PC , styled Earl of Dalkeith between 1812 and 1819, was a British politician and nobleman.-Background and education:...
. At Christmas it has been an annual tradition for more than thirty years in Dunchurch to dress up the statue in the garb of a cartoon or TV character.
External links
- Lord of the Manor of Dunchurch
- Dunchurch Festival Group notices, etc.
- Dunchurch Parish Council
- Dunchurch Parish Council Papers
- Dunchurch Village Hall
- Dunchurch St. Peter's Church - C. of E.
- Dunchurch Baptist Church
- Dunchurch Silver Band
- District of Dunchurch Brass
- Dunchurch and Bilton Cricket Club
- Dunchurch Photographic Society
- Dunchurch 1700-1950
- Dunchurch Boughton CofE (VA) Junior School website
- Bilton Grange Preparatory School
- Photos of Dunchurch and surrounding area on geograph